Captions: They're All Lies

Yes, we’ve all seen them. We’ve seen how powerful those motivational posters can be. Sometimes we forget what teamwork, accountability, and excellence mean, so we need a picture, the word, and a definition to jog our memories. “Oh, I remember now!” But these posters aren’t ingenious just because they are alternatives to dictionary. They are ingenious because they tell stories and make complete sense. Here are a couple:

"Teamwork" http://www.successories.com

"Service" http://www.successories.com

Teamwork: “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

The sun and the mist rise up early in the morning with the rowers and create the yellow and orange tinge that is the fiery passion within each rower’s heart. The water cannot extinguish the everlasting internal flame, so the team just keeps going. The water is no obstacle for a team as the rowers carve effortlessly through the water to reach their endpoint and they attain that uncommon result. Notice the shadows and how they hide the face of each individual. That’s because there is no “I” in teamwork. There’s only the team and work. Are you ready to be a team player now?! I know I am.   

Service: “Service is the lifeblood of any organization. Everything flows form it and is nourished by it. Customer service is not a department… it’s an attitude.”

Like the vegetation and water flowing through the picture, service is a form of life. You can’t stop the flow of a stream, and likewise, you can’t stop providing service. It is the amount of effort given that turns a trickle of water into a stream. If there is no effort involved, the water trapped in the ice of apathy cannot escape and flow down to form this continuous stream. Don’t stop the flow!

Joseph Kosuth would find these posters amusing because some of his artwork is quite similar. Kosuth’s artwork delves into the realm of conceptual art. Conceptual art is a type of photography that usually illustrates an idea or concept and emerged in the 1960s as a reaction to formalism and the commodification of art. An important difference between conceptual art and more "traditional" forms of art-making goes to the question of artistic skill. Although it is often the case that skill in the handling of traditional media plays little role in conceptual art, it is difficult to argue that no skill is required to make conceptual works, or that skill is always absent from them. What makes this difficult is that many conceptual artists revert back to the “amateur” style. Traditional art is a skill, but with photography, it is too easy to simply capture the world around us. There is no point in taking picture of a sunset. However, as an amateur, you can stage objects to have meaning and to flow original idea through unconventional paths. This is what makes conceptual art so conceptual, yet simple. This art is simple enough that it can be achieved by methodology or literally by following a set of instructions, and that is why conceptual artwork is also known as an installment. As a methodology, objects are staged into representing an idea, and the significance of conceptual art is to emphasize that the idea is more important than the actual artifact. 

His works such as One and Three Chairs (1965) and Titled (Art as Idea as Idea) (1967) explore themes in relation to language. John J. Curley in his work “Fuzzy Language: Joseph’s Kosuth’s Titled (Art as Idea as Idea), 1967” realized that “Photographs themselves do not mislead; their captions are to blame” (125). And in Kosuth’s work, One and Three Chairs, this deceptive nature of captions is illuminated. In this work, there is a dictionary definition of the word “chair”, an actual chair, and a picture of a chair. Curley discusses how chair can “denotate an important position, for example, a ‘professor’s chair’). Yet the chair on display is armless and cheap” (125). Kosuth’s dictionary caption is not adequate enough to capture that meaning, so he illustrates the failure of language to “capture and contain a real object or its photographic reproduction” (125).

Similarly, in his other work, Titled (Art as Idea as Idea), Kosuth cut the definition of “theory” out of the dictionary, fixed it to a piece of board, and signed it. He allowed institutions to make unlimited copies of it but demanded it to be four feet square with white text on a black ground. This work attempts to “challenge the singular uniqueness (and commodity status) associated with traditional art” because it is so easily reproducible (125).  Curley understands that by extracting a dictionary definition and enlarging it, Kosuth transforms the word into an object, complete with changeable parts and observable behavior (129). Kosuth’s work definitely stretches the world of language and makes people think about what is being conveyed. It also demonstrates how it is possible to say one thing and mean another (129).

"One and Three Chairs" http://www.moma.org/collection_images/resized/331/w500h420/CRI_170331.jpg

"Titled (Art as Idea as Idea)" http://ecatalogue.art.yale.edu/imageServer/imgSrv?objectId=98031&size=ref

Like Kosuth, I will try to challenge the act of defining by presenting pictures that seem contradictory to the norm. Kosuth illuminates the deceptive nature of captions with pictures and objects and their very confined meanings. But I will present images that have the same fundamental idea of misguiding the viewer, but with a different intention. This intention will primarily be humor.  These images will contain an image, an object (the word or phrase), and a definition (the caption) like in Kosuth’s work One and Three Chair.

"Consistency" http://www.despair.com/

Consistency: “It’s only a virtue if you’re not a screwup.”

The archer pulls the arrow back and lets go. The determined arrow flies through the air and splits the previously fired arrow straight down the middle. Only problem is that the arrow wasn’t anywhere near the bull’s-eye. Unfortunately, I know that feel all too well. That bull’s-eye symbolizes perfection and all that we strive for in life. It’s so close, yet so far away—both figuratively and literally in both cases. We are always told to aim for consistency, but clearly this can be taken too literally. This archer is undoubtedly very consistent, but sometimes steadily missing the target is not a good thing. The implication of consistency usually takes on a positive form, but in this instance, the depicted photograph conveys that consistency as a virtue is not always as beneficial as it seems. 

"Motivation" http://www.despair.com/

Motivation: “If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon.”

We look at the nice scene depicted and gaze at the sunset that gleams just over the horizon and reveals the impeccably clear water. We look at motivation and perhaps think of clarity and determination. Then we read the caption and feel like an idiot. This picture is different in the sense that the caption does not directly relate to motivation initially because it is being quite condescending. But then when the caption introduces robots soon taking over your job, then that is where the motivation factor comes in. The picture does not seem to relate to either the caption or the word “motivation”, which actually adds to the emphasis of the caption. The reader feels relaxed and is expecting something nice to be said, but the caption violates the norm by presenting the fact that robots could take over your job. These conflicting emotions and construes of the norm are what Joseph Kosuth wanted to achieve, and this picture perfectly embodies his mission.  This picture shows something pleasant, but has a dark intention in order to motivate the viewer.

"Pain" http://www.despair.com/

Pain: “Pain is just weakness leaving the body. Sometimes your spirit tags along with it.”

Kelly Clarkson has said, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” everyone says, “No pain no gain,” and I do agree with those statements, but this mouse doesn’t. This image dances with the norm that pain is temporary, but is beneficial most of the time. Unfortunately mighty mouse had to be the one to prove us all wrong. The caption makes fun of the old saying that pain is weakness leaving the body by adding that if taken to the extreme, your spirit tags along with it, meaning death. This picture is like Kosuth in that it challenges the norms or standards that society has optimistically built around adversity, but different in that it evokes humor by veering off and misleading the viewer from the norm.

"Shoot For the Moon" http://www.despair.com/

Shoot For The Moon: “Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. Of course, then your eyeballs will boil and your lungs explode from decompression. But that’s what you get for being a damn showoff.”

Dream big and follow your heart’s desires. Never sell yourself short because you are better and stronger than you think you are. Shoot for the moon. They all seem to be delivering the same message, but it just so happens that shooting for the moon can be interpreted literally. This picture is different because the others I have given are concrete and can be taken literally while making sense. However, this is clearly does not work. This is the same as Kosuth in that the caption takes a mutually understood figurative saying and misleads the viewer. The caption is able to mislead because it is up for interpretation, and in this image it ironically and literally interprets the saying.

"Ambition" http://www.despair.com/

Ambition: “The journey of a thousand miles sometimes ends very, very badly.”

Initially you look at the picture and see ambition in the cool, blue font, look at the bear, think about how cool bears are, and then proceed to read the caption. It’s only then that you realize that the picture wasn’t about the bear. People say that the best things in life don’t come easy and that you have to work hard to get what you want. But I’m not sure if that’s what the salmon in this picture wants! Ambition is commonly seen as a good trait to have, but this picture makes it seem less appealing. If the picture were actually trying to display ambition, the bear would not be in the picture. However, the caption is intentionally misleading the viewer to evoke humor. This work’s idea is the same as Kosuth’s but with different intentions with the images and words utilized.

"Distinction" http://www.despair.com/

Distinction: “Looking sharp is easy when you haven’t done any work.”

I wish this were the case, but we all must do work in order to grow and distinguish ourselves from the crowd. This follows the trend of the other photographs in that it goes against the social norm. We work hard to distinguish ourselves. We go to school, work hard to get good grades, and hopefully find a great job by distinguishing ourselves. This is funny because we wish it were that easy and we wish that we could be in that position. The caption entirely misleads the viewer, but to such an extreme that the viewer can realize the ridiculous claim that it is making.

While viewing these images, the first thoughts that appeared in my mind were not anywhere close what was actually being conveyed, and that is what I hope to achieve in these images I picked modeling after Kosuth. But not being able to understand everything the first time is part of conceptual art. It takes time to stop and strip the artwork to its very core idea. And as seen through the pictures, there is always more than one way to interpret a picture or idea. It is up to each individual and how they see it compared to others that make the artwork valuable. It is a device that can take thoughts and give feedback without ever doing anything. Conceptual art does not exist just to illuminate ideas or thoughts. It is also here to inspire new ideas and to help mold the world around us. 

Bibliography

Foote, Nancy. "The Anti-Photographers". Artforum 15. September 1976.

Wall, Jeff. "'Marks of Indifference': Aspects of Photography In, Or As, Conceptual Art". Ann Goldstein and Anne Rorimer, Reconsidering the Object of Art, 1965-1975 (Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1995). 247-267.

Curley, John. "Fuzzy Language: Joseph Kosuth's Titled (Art as Idea as Idea)". Yale University art Gallery Bulletin., African Art at Yale (2005). 125-129.